Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1887-09-20
QUEENS OF TIE RANCH.
THEODORE ROOSEVELT TELLS OF
THE WOMEN OF THE PLAINS.

Ii -
TIE Mo..rA,
-''''so'
A Rough and Sometimes De.n.rst. rio.
for the Fa,r
6iacA ana cour-
suo0ess-Aeeping Hoard
ns Mouse.
Theodore Proso,,.,.
r.ro,, - ,e se''' !" "nom ms Dakota
,ta. 81. 49, - eng roSsins inuerest, says
a. -. 49, "oh'ai-tne cattle queen, as
si'o "est Is Iaiiing into the way OF styling her
Is no newspaper myth She exists, her num-
pers are Increasing, and she is one OF the most
.naiacteristic types that the conditions Of
american NE have evolved. She is the modern
ruependent woman, but with difference
S q uoes not stand on her own feet like the
y new iork woman, because she feels her in
nuence IN society, nor like the New England
"o'uuii' because sue mas been taught to think
ior nerseif, but because, like uii frontiersmen,
pug nas ueen forced TO act for herself, and with
ssuo western grit she docs 1t well. She knows
no~ 70 make ior her children homestead
anu heritage. occasionally she knows what
low sen supporting women have yet learned,
low 70 make money not only to live on but
grow rich on, as men and rich men count
wealth. ai, nowadays.
mere are women all over the west, Mr..
h'ooseVeit sald the other day, "who have
come 10 De as thoroughly capable Of manag-
ing tneir Affairs for themselves as If they were
Une sniewdest OF men. Fortitude and patience
we Always look for in woman, but cool
bravery and business talent are the qualities
mat sometimes come out strongest when she
nilas herself facing rude civilization and
ieic 10 SHIFT FOR herself as best she can.
Lie on the ranch is certainly rough for q
woman. There Is no call to pity pioneer of
tne other sex, for II he has the right stuff in
MN ~ won't hurt him to buckle right down
70 the bone, and then he can't but succeed.
but Tor woman, to an easterner at least, it
seems different. And yet, 50 far as one can
see, they ike 1t, good many of them, and it
brings out the best that is in them. They are
nou all angels by any means, and a woman
uesperado Is sometimes quite as much to be
reared as the worst of the men. There was
one down In Arizona whom the ranchmen tell
tales OF YET, ana with something like pride in
her expiolts, TOO, who killed, so they say,
twenty-five men with her own hands. She
was hard rider and crack shot, SO that it
was decidediy risky to be covered by her rife.
Dut that same pluck and courage that she
showed, turned into more peaceful channels,
makes splendid success OF some Of the ranch
women Inc women who are managing
cattie ranges for themselves, not helping their
HUSBANDS gam footing, which is sometimes
ABOUT as hard, come from all social ranks
ana nave drifted into the business-I don't
know what proportion OF them have deliber-
ately CHOSEN lin all Sorts OF ways. Some
OF them are Iexans, who were almost Graded
with cattle, and to whom running mower,
ieealng stccR, breaking Wild horses, or doing
any SORT OF work about a ranch Is SO much
matter OF educatlon and habit that it seems
us fnuch their natural occupation as taking
IN sewing 10 notable housewife left widow
III an eastern village. They take hold clev-
cry with their husbands II they marry; they
strlke OUT 1or themselves ON small scale,
whlei sometimes grows 10 larger one, II
they don't
"otnef ranch women, especially In Dakota,
come from New England, New York or the
states north OF the ONO There are school
teachers among them, who have concluded to
Tram something that may possibly shoot more
prohtabiy than the unfruitful young idea
MOST OF them went west, III the first place,
with their husbands, to see what could be
done III new country, and When the man OF
the family died or broke down, the wife,
rather than sacrifice the foothold already
gained stayed on, learned by experience,
bought her knowledge pretty dearly some
tinles, tailed utterly perhaps, II the winters
were bad OF lire swept her buildings; sue
ceeded more probably, Kept her stock i'll good
shape added to their numbers and came out
ahead little every year. 1t Is no joke to
succeed IN DAKOTA IN cattle raising or tree
planting or wheat farming, but women can
ana 40 make money IN all three. success Is
graded, OF course, as elsewhere. line women
ranchers whom know peisohaily--and that
Is no very large numoer-are not IN the pusl-
ness on large SCALE Some or them are not
ranchlng as eastern people, with their ideas
OF the bigness OF western operations, inter-
pref the word at all. Ihey nave no more
than SIX or ten cattle, perhaps, ana from that
the number VIII run up TO twenty-five or
lfty head, but they are an energetic ana
business like set OF women VINO are working
lndustrlously IN the day OF small things' ana
| OF course with some, though perhaps win no
| How the ranch woman, whose business en-
terprise Mr.. Roosevelt commends III the west,
| ,,,atip1nc nnlyag her start from thp paCt lie